


Last Chance

by Dark Stars (ivorybyrd)



Category: Tenkuu no Escaflowne | The Vision of Escaflowne
Genre: Adultery, Death, F/M, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 02:57:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17337383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivorybyrd/pseuds/Dark%20Stars
Summary: Mahad knew Chid was not his, he knew his wife was never going to love him as he loved her. There were a lot of things he was wrong about a lot of things he knew he'd take for granted.





	Last Chance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rad/gifts).



> This is a short fic for Radical-Rad for the Escaflowne Secret Santa!

Through the entirety of Marlene’s pregnancy, he knew. The short moments of intimacy where her face was hidden faintly behind her hand, he knew. The way her eyes darted anxiously to the crowd as she walked between the rows of Caeli knights, he knew. 

He knew her heart was never going to be his. 

He lived his life full of ‘last chances’ when it came to the tragically beautiful Marlene Aston, eldest of her sisters and wisest of the court. When they were young, she’d best him at board games with his visits. Only right before his loss he’d bow out out of frustration, knowing full well she’d share in his feeling. 

Last chance to make a game winning move or loss, last chance to call off the wedding to see her happiness in the arms of another. Last chance to tell her he knew right before…

She died in love with him, but she spent her first days as a mother with fright and guilt. The customs between Asturian and Freidan father’s was miles in difference. He was raised at his father’s side with the mother getting to her rest and recovery. She’d have time with the baby to feed and bond, but the father had the duty of cleaning and tending to non-maternal needs. 

He was a bright, beautiful boy. His features so resembled his mother. Thick lashes, plush lips and curls that spiraled in every direction of his head. It wasn’t unheard of that boys looked like their mothers, but this boy, from the second he was born held nothing of his father’s. At least this confirmed Mahad’s suspicion.

First a wave of anger; that slow boil of blood and then heat under the skin. This woman, and her suitor had a boy. At least with a daughter they could try for a second. Only with it being a boy he’d be questioned why he’d try for another so soon, and why the first would not be given the kingdom upon his death. 

These thoughts rushed around his mind that not even the baby’s cry could call him out. 

Marlene’s tears, her soaked gown and fragility broke his anger. She looked at him with forgiveness, and almost screamed when he grabbed the boy.

Holding Chid in his hands for the first time felt right. Seeing the purplish boy, wrapped in the finest of Freidan cloth and silk, screaming in confusion and fear, broke his heart into so many pieces. He held the boy to his chest tightly, unwilling to let this boy go for the world. Damned if he’d never have Marlene’s love, but he’d rather die than let anything hurt this child. 

Last chance to denounce the boy, refuse fatherhood and break ties with Asturia. 

Never, he thought. He’d never in a million years. 

Chid was his son. 

 

Marlene was a vibrant mother, but inexperienced as being an Asturian royal, she was more accustomed to doing very little with children. So the first year with Chid was met with much stress and learning. By the end of his first year, her symptoms had started to show. 

She tried to push past it, hide it at first, but to no avail her weakness started to show. 

Mahad did what he could to take over as not only a mother, but a father and doting husband. Much of his duties as the duke had to take a back seat. Many of his advisors sought to remind him, but found themselves with an angered Duke. He had her favorite place reconstructed down to the last detail for her final years. 

He sat with her and played board games as she fed Chid. He’d bring her only her favorite teas, lighting only the less intense incense they made. He’d bend over backwards until she was exhausted from ordering him around. He kept Chid at all times, close enough for her to touch him, but far enough so that she couldn’t tend to him and exacerbate her state of fatigue. 

They tried everything to help her, and he’d promised her to go to the ends of the earth to give her just an extra day longer. 

She’d just caress his face from her spot on the bed, tug at his beard just a little before letting out a breathy, soft laugh. “My dear, Mahad.” 

The man she had loved before him never came to her side, he never picked up Chid and soothed his growing pains with the parenting comforts that come naturally. 

He could call for the man, the man she truly loved deep down, the real father of Chid.

Last chance to give her that closure. 

“…I truly grew to love you, my dear…” she had said one day as the sunlight poured over her faint frame in her plush bed. Chid at her side, nestled quietly as he took up the last days of her warmth. 

He played her music box a hundred times before, and he’d play it another hundred times just to keep her around a bit longer. 

She’d gotten up one last time, and when he woke in his chair to see her reaching for it he took her hands and steadied her. He played it again and held her tightly to him. Telling her how much he loved her, how much he understood and accepted of her. She remained draped over him for some time as he held her to him. Her breathing slowing from the hurried exhaustion she had before. 

“Mahad… my love…” she whined. 

“It’s ok,” he said. “There’s nothing to say.” 

She used the last of her strength to wrap her arms around him, she urged him to move with her in a sluggish dance to the faint tune as she hummed along.

At first he was confused, but caught on quickly and gently lead her in a slow dance. Last chance to have a moment like this; a moment of almost normalcy.

Eventually she was too tired and was shaking by the end of the moment that they shared. He laid her down and covered her up. 

One last chance to stay by her side. He asked to enter her bed and just hold her shaking limbs until she slept. 

He watched the last flutters of her eyelashes as she eased off to sleep, he watched the last tugs of her lips as she smiled faintly as his beard tickled her neck. He watched the final rises and falls of her chest and memorized the feeling of warmth as it slowly faded away.

Last chance to experience all of this in her final moments. He’d carry the fragments of her until his end.


End file.
